A NSW senator has criticised private arsenals across suburban Sydney, describing it as “cooked” that there is no limit on the number of firearms an individual can legally own.

The comments come after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state and territory leaders met in national cabinet and agreed gun law reform is needed following the deadly Bondi Beach attack, in which 15 people were killed.

NSW Greens Senator David Shoebridge has compiled data identifying the gun owners with the highest number of registered firearms in the state in 2024, excluding licensed collectors and arms dealers.

The data shows the largest private arsenal was held by a gun owner in Cremorne on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, who possessed 386 firearms. The second-largest collection belonged to a resident of Chifley in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with 300 firearms.

“It’s bloody extraordinary that there are these large private arsenals hidden away in our towns and suburbs,” Senator Shoebridge told news.com.au.

“What does someone in Cremorne need more than 300 firearms for?”

The figures also revealed gun owners in Punchbowl, Terrey Hills and Elanora Heights each held close to 200 firearms.

One of the two men responsible for Sunday night’s Bondi Beach shooting, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, held a valid firearm licence and was legally in possession of six guns at the time of the attack. He was also a member of the Zastava Hunting Association.

Under the conditions of his licence, Sajid was entitled to own an uncapped number of rifles and shotguns.

Sajid, a fruit shop owner and non-citizen who first arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998, was shot dead by police during the attack.

His son and alleged accomplice, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, is an unemployed bricklayer and Australian-born citizen. 

He was also shot by police and remains under guard in hospital.

Naveed was previously known to ASIO after being investigated in 2019 over links to Islamic State sympathisers.

Senator Shoebridge said recreational hunting was frequently cited by NSW residents as justification for obtaining firearms, a practice he said had resulted in “hundreds of thousands of these weapons accumulating in suburban Sydney”.

“He (Sajid) could use the same reason to get his first gun as to get his second gun, 20th gun or 300th gun – that’s cooked.”

He acknowledged that farmers in rural and regional areas may require multiple firearms for legitimate purposes, such as euthanising injured livestock or controlling invasive animals.

However, he argued that an “accountant in Sydney” did not require multiple firearms for recreational hunting conducted in regional areas.

“Try as we might we haven’t been able to get Labor or the Coalition to agree to the law reform required.”

Senator Shoebridge pointed to recent reforms in Western Australia, where a cap of five firearms per owner was introduced following what he described as a “vicious campaign by the gun lobby”.

“We say the cap should be three (firearms), and it should be a national cap.

“And if we removed recreational hunting as a reason, that would take hundreds of thousands of the most dangerous weapons out of our suburbs.”

Postcodes of NSW gun owners with the most firearms in 2024

  • Cremorne, Sydney: 386
  • Chifley, Sydney: 300
  • Goulburn: 298
  • Cardiff: 254
  • Queanbeyan: 222
  • Punchbowl, Sydney: 209
  • Terrey Hills, Sydney: 208
  • Amaroo: 201
  • Elanora Heights, Sydney: 194
  • Dubbo: 191

Images: Shutterstock